are we there yet?
Tomorrow (or today depending on when you are reading this), Woodstock voters will gather to decide on whether or not to acquire the private water utility in our town.
More questions/comments I have gotten since last week:
Why aren’t we creating a water district?
A water district is another layer of government where the utility is governed by users only. I have seen many declarations that a water district should be created because Woodstock has a sewer district. We do not. All voters vote on the sewer rates and the sewer budget at Town Meeting Day.
At a time when our executive boards have agreed that we need to increase efficiency in our government so that it can be more effective, creating another layer of government would be a big step in the wrong direction.
We need more time!
For what? I’m earnestly asking.
Some have suggested that no one should be asked to vote for this acquisition until they’ve laid eyes on every pipe in the system. Some have suggested that no one should be asked to vote for this acquisition until their uncle’s dog walker’s sister’s cousin who is a (insert finance-adjacent job here) has gone over the list of assets and their valuation.
This acquisition is supported by the State of Vermont, the Water Working Group (an advisory group that was comprised of residents and elected officials), the Woodstock Planning Commission, Sustainable Woodstock, and the Village Trustees. The Selectboard hired a firm to audit the financial records of the Aqueduct back in the Spring, we engaged an engineering firm to produce a comprehensive report on what capital projects the system requires to come into compliance.
The board’s position is that there is value in owning this utility as soon as possible; that continuing to have the utility under it’s current ownership is not in the best interest of our town.
But what about a rate card?
The Selectboard understands the importance of developing a rate card that differentiates between types of users (and one that incentivizes conservation). We’ve had a lot of smart, qualified folks lay the foundation for that work. But, there’s an order of operations here: we need to own the water company, bond for the improvements, then make a rate card that we can educate the public on.
I still have questions about the upcoming bond vote.
Great, we have another month of meetings and information sessions. We’ll be posting them on the town website and the listserv. Please, please, come.
What else?
Honestly, there’s a lot going on outside water, too. FY26 budget development is forthcoming. Once I get enough sleep and I will catch you up on it.
(Unfortunately relatable) reading:
I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is, The Atlantic
‘ “So much of the conversation around misinformation suggests that its primary job is to persuade. But as Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued, “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” ‘
